The Classics Department are planning to arrange a school tour in the next academic year for Classical Studies and History students to visit a number of sites and museums in London. The trip will be especially relevant to students of Classics and Latin in both Junior and Senior Cycle. There will be the opportunity to visit the Parthenon Marbles and a reconstruction of Roman London. The British Museum holds a vast collection of artefacts from the Classical World of Ancient Greece and Rome, as well as many other parts of the world.

The trip will also be of interest to students of History, as we will be taking in a number of sites in London of great historical interest, in particular the awarding winning exhibits on the Holocaust and World War I at the Imperial War Museum and the Cabinet War Rooms from which Winston Churchill directed the war effort during the darkest days of World War II.

The full itinerary is on the next page. If you would like your son to accompany us on the trip, please return the application form to the office by Friday 15th February. Students will be confirmed by Monday 25th February. A deposit of €100 due by Friday 1st March.

Please note that while we will make every effort to accommodate as many students as possible who wish to go, our numbers are limited. If we are over-subscribed, we will be allocating spaces first to students of Classical Studies and then conducting a lottery for the remaining spaces.

The provisional cost is €400. This includes flights with a 10kg bag allowance, B&B accommodation, two dinners, and a London Underground Travelcard.

If you have any queries, please do not hesitate to contact us via the office.

​During the French Transition Year course in February to May we would like to offer the opportunity for your son to undertake the challenge of being awarded a qualification by the French government.

The course is known as the Diplôme d'Études en Langue Française, or D.E.L.F. This diploma is an internationally recognized certificate offered by the French Education Ministry. It incorporates the four areas of language learning: Oral, Listening, Reading and Writing. After having completed the course material with their class teacher, the students who successfully pass the exams will be awarded the international qualification (Level A2) by the Alliance Française Foundation.

The exam is optional but we would recommend that your son sit the exam as it builds on previous skills learned from the Junior Certificate in addition to bridging motivation towards the Leaving Certificate course.

This is the first year that this opportunity is being offered in CBC. We hope that you and your son will support this unique initiative.

The cost of the exam is €50 (Alliance Française examiners)

The exam will take place either in CBC or in the Alliance Française, Dublin in May.

Please fill out the permission slip below and return to us by Friday 8th February. We will be in touch regarding payment at a later date.

What is the Bond Trader Challenge?It is a game that teaches a number of concepts;

the laws of supply and demand

the relationship between interest rates and inflation

the importance of economic indicators.

Who is it for?The Bond Trader challenge is designed for 5th and 6th year Business Studies, Accounting and Economics students.How does it work?This is all done through a fun, interactive, competitive game.The challenge begins with;

an introduction to markets and trading

an explanation on how to trade with bonds, shares & cash followed by a sample scenario.

Each team consists of 5 students who will have to respond to real market scenarios and make decisions on how to manage their own bond portfolio under time pressure. The challenge has 8 scored rounds with an interval after round 4. The winning team will be the team who scored the most over 8 rounds.

This year’s theme is very much a celebration of the ongoing work of our Catholic schools. We reflect on the Gospel values on which all Catholic schools are built and consider how each of us contribute to our characteristic spirit. The engagement with understanding the Mystery of Christ and the revelation that comes from Scriptures is the ‘bedrock for Catholic schools’ (Fr Michael Drumm). We consider the elements that make our schools welcoming and think about how welcoming each of us are. What can we do to ensure that each student can say ‘I am home’ as part of our Catholic school community? And it is not just about the students. We are mindful of all members of our school community. We reflect on the contributions that the younger generation and the older generation bring to our school communities.

This Catholic Schools Week we also take time to think about what it means to serve others / serve God. This requires us to identify times when we have been served but also identify how we serve / have served others. And finally, we look at how we celebrate our faith in our Catholic schools and how this faith connects us to others. This faith calls for a ‘free,’ ‘active,’ and ‘communal’ response. Therefore, our faith calls us to action together.

Again, this year, resources for Catholic Schools Week will be available online. All lessons have resources for both Junior and Senior Cycle. Each lesson contains practices which support the National Literacy and Numeracy Strategy, as well as self-reflective practices as a way of supporting assessment in the classroom. They also include extension exercises as an option for your students.

Log on to www.catholicschools.ie to download the CSW 2019 resources. Praise be to you, my Lord. With every blessing,